Petrelis Files

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41740.htm

India

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Section 377 of the Penal Code punishes acts of sodomy, buggery and bestiality; however, the law is commonly used to target, harass, and punish lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. Human rights groups stated that gay and lesbian rights were not viewed as human rights in the country.

Gays and lesbians faced discrimination in all areas of society, including family, work, and education. Activists reported that in most cases, homosexuals who do not hide their orientation were fired from their jobs. Homosexuals also faced physical attacks, rape, and blackmail. Police have committed these crimes and used the threat of Section 377 to ensure the victim did not report the incidents. The overarching nature of Section 377 allowed police to arrest gays and lesbians virtually at will, and officers used the threat of arrest to ensure no charges would be filed against them.

On September 2, the Delhi High Court dismissed a legal challenge to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Plaintiffs filed the case in June 2001 after police arrested four gay and lesbian rights workers at the NAZ Foundation International and National Aids Control Office premises in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, for conspiring to commit "unnatural sexual acts" and possessing "obscene material" which was reportedly safer-sex educational materials construed as pornography. The AIDS workers were kept in captivity for more than 45 days and were refused bail twice before it was granted by the High Court. The Court ruled that the validity of the law could not be challenged by anyone "not affected by it," as the defendants had not been charged with a sex act prohibited by law.

Homosexuals have been detained in clinics for months and subjected to treatment against their will. The NAZ Foundation filed a petition with the NHRC regarding a case in which a man was subjected to shock therapy. The NHRC declined to take the case, as gay and lesbian rights were not under its purview.

Authorities estimated that HIV/AIDS had infected approximately 4½ million persons, and there was significant societal discrimination against persons with the disease. According to the ILO, 70 percent of persons suffering from HIV/AIDS faced discrimination.

In Ahmedabad in April, an HIV positive woman committed suicide at her home after allegedly being harassed by her co-workers.

HRW said that many doctors refused to treat HIV-positive children, and that some schools expelled or segregated children because they or their parents were HIV-positive. Many orphanages and other residential institutions rejected HIV-positive children or denied them housing.

In January, a Mumbai High Court ruling determined that HIV-positive persons could not be fired. There was no information available on the implications of this ruling at year's end.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41723.htm

Israel

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In June, bystanders verbally harassed participants in a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. At the same time, a photograph and the telephone number of a homosexual Jerusalem city council member was plastered on that city's billboards along with accusations that he would bring disaster to Jerusalem. Anonymous callers threatened to bomb the parade; however, there was no violence.

In 2003, the Association of Gay Men, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgendered in Israel complained of several incidents in which police allegedly engaged in verbal and physical harassment of homosexuals in a Tel Aviv public park. Representatives of that organization subsequently met with the police to discuss ways to improve relations, and the police appointed contact persons in all police districts who serve as liaisons to the homosexual community. No similar complaints were reported during the year.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41766.htm

Jamaica

[snip] Violence against individuals suspected or known to be homosexuals occurred, as did discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS.

[snip] On June 9, unknown assailants stabbed and killed Brian Williamson, one of the country's most visible homosexual rights activists (see Section 5).

[snip] The law prohibits homosexual relationships, and a culture of severe discrimination persisted. There were numerous cases of violence against persons based on sexual orientation, including by police and vigilante groups (see Section 5).

[snip] From Section 5

The Offenses Against the Person Act prohibits "acts of gross indecency" (generally interpreted as any kind of physical intimacy) between men, in public or in private and is punishable by 10 years in prison. Prime Minister Patterson stated that the country would not be pressured to change its anti-homosexual laws.
The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG) continued to report allegations of human rights abuses, including police harassment, arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of homosexuals. Police often did not investigate such incidents. Some of the country's most famous dancehall singers gained the attention of international human rights groups during the year for their homophobic lyrics, which incited violence against homosexuals. A 2001 poll found that 96 percent of citizens were opposed to legalizing homosexual activity.

On June 9, Brian Williamson, a prominent homosexual rights activist and founding member of J-FLAG, was found stabbed to death at his home in Kingston. Human rights groups believed that the brutality of Williamson's death indicated a hate crime, but the JCF maintained that the crime was a robbery. A suspect was remanded in custody at year's end.

On June 24, a group of armed men, reportedly including famous dancehall artist Buju Banton, forced their way into a house in Kingston and beat two occupants while shouting homophobic insults. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that Banton may never face charges and warned that the artist's fame and the stigma attached to the homosexual victims hindered a thorough and expedient police investigation. At year's end, Banton had been arrested and released on bail; there was no information concerning the others involved.

Male inmates deemed by prison wardens to be homosexual are held in a separate facility for their protection. The method used for determining their sexual orientation is subjective and not regulated by the prison system. There were numerous reports of violence against homosexual inmates, perpetrated both by the wardens and by other inmates, but few inmates sought recourse through the prison system.

Homosexual men were hesitant to report incidents against them because of fear for their physical well being. Human rights NGOs and government entities agreed that brutality against homosexuals, both by police and private citizens, was widespread in the community.


No laws protected persons living with HIV/AIDS from discrimination. Human rights NGOs reported severe stigma and discrimination for this group. Although health care facilities were prepared adequately to handle patients with HIV/AIDS, health care workers often neglected such patients. [snip]

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27905.htm

Mexico

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On June 22, the 25th Annual Gay-Lesbian parade took place in Mexico City with 30 floats and an estimated 30 to 80 thousand participants.

In June, the Citizens Committee against Homophobic Hate Crimes reported that at least two killings of homosexuals in homophobic hate crimes occurred during the year; however, the figure may be as high as six. On June 1, the bodies of Jorge Armenta Penuelas, director of the Nogales, Sonora Gay-Lesbian Collective, and his partner Ramon Armando Gutierrez Enriquez, were found showing signs of torture. On June 13, the press reported that unknown persons attacked 12 gay children who congregated at Bosque de Aragon in Mexico City. One of the children was thrown from a height of 18 feet and sustained serious injuries. Local authorities said they could not intervene because the park is federal property.

According to press reports in January, various schools in Yucatan state expelled five children whose parents were HIV positive allegedly because the schools feared that the children could infect others with the virus.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41742.htm

Nepal

The Constitution does not recognize sexual minorities, but the country does not have any laws that specifically criminalize or proscribe sanctions against sexual minorities. Government authorities, especially police, sometimes harassed and abused homosexuals. On August 9, 39 homosexual rights advocates were arrested and detained for 11 days under the Public Offenses Act. They were subsequently released on bail. According to the Blue Diamond Society (BDS), an NGO that works to support the well-being of the country's sexual minorities, after a 2003 meeting between BDS and police, the police Inspector General issued a letter to all police stations expressing concern at the level of police violence against homosexuals.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41699.htm

Netherlands

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Homosexuals increasingly faced harassment by pockets of mainly Muslim youth in the larger cities. The Government started an information campaign to counter homophobia among Muslim youth.
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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41771.htm

Peru
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Despite the absence of formal prohibitions, homosexuals faced extensive discrimination. On August 11, a Lima supermarket's manager asked two male members of the Homosexual Movement of Lima to leave after they exchanged kisses in the supermarket's public cafeteria. Other clients had complained about their behavior.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41701.htm

Poland

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Homosexuality is not criminalized; however, polls indicated that most Poles did not discuss the issue publicly. In May, right-wing groups and football hooligans armed with eggs and stones attacked a gay rights demonstration in Krakow. Police moved to protect the group, but the counter-protesters attacked the police. The mayor of Warsaw stated that this violence contributed to his decision to deny approval of a gay rights parade in Warsaw in June, organized by the International Gay and Lesbian Association. Gay rights activists held a peaceful rally on the day following the date the parade was to have taken place. Counterdemonstrators picketed the rally, including members of the ultraconservative All Poland's Youth Association, which had been associated with violent incidents in the past. However, there were no reported incidents of violence at the rally.
In November, several organizations and political parties, including Lambda, the Green Party and the New Left, organized a March of Equality in Poznan on International Tolerance Day. Despite protests from conservative parties, Church authorities and associations, city authorities granted permission for the march. The march was provided with a police escort but was blocked by soccer hooligans and members of All Poland's Youth. These groups attempted to break the police cordon and attack the marchers but were thwarted by the police escort. Following the attempted disruption, the police and organizers agreed to change from a march format to a rally. Opponents threw eggs and lemons and verbally abused the rally participants. Police detained or arrested a number of counterdemonstrators.

A Polish Radio poll found 49 percent opposed public demonstrations for gay rights. Television stations in Wroclaw and Lodz aired anti-gay commercials sponsored by the fascist political organization Narodowe Odrodzenia Polski.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41625.htm

Sierra Leone

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On October 5, a prominent gay activist was killed in her office. Media reports initially indicated that she was raped repeatedly, stabbed, and her neck broken. International human rights groups identified the killing as a possible hate crime. Police investigators were investigating the case at year's end; however, initial investigation suggested that the victim died of asphyxia and that there was no evidence of rape or stabbing. The primary suspect in the case was a recently dismissed domestic employee, who was also being investigated for theft. At year's end, the former employee's case was before the court.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41710.htm

Sweden

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The law prohibits hate speech that makes "agitation against ethnic groups" a crime. Under this law, neo Nazi groups were not permitted to display signs and banners with provocative symbols at their rallies (see Section 5). In July, Pentecostal Pastor Ake Green was convicted under this law in connection with a sermon in which he voiced condemnation of homosexuality. He was sentenced to 1 month's imprisonment; he has appealed the verdict on the basis of freedom of speech.

Societal violence and discrimination against homosexuals was a problem. In 2003, 326 crimes with homophobic motive were reported to the police, a sizable increase from 2002.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41715.htm

Ukraine

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On September 18, a homosexual man, Dmytro Pakhomov died, reportedly while being questioned by police in Kryvyy Rih. According to human rights groups, police officials made derogatory remarks about Pakhomov's sexual orientation to his mother and told her that, in the midst of interrogation, her son suddenly jumped out a window and fell four floors to his death. When she retrieved her son's body at a local hospital, medical staff told her that Pakhomov had suffered multiple internal injuries, including liver, kidney, lung, and neck vertebrae damage not consistent with the police version of his death. The family of the deceased declined to request an investigation.

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A leading NGO that works to protect the rights of gays and lesbians reported that a law called "On Protection of Morals" passed by Parliament in November 2003 was used to discriminate against homosexuals. For example, the law requires that newspapers containing gay and lesbian ads may only be sold if they are sealed in a hermetic package, and then only in specialized medical institutions that have a special license to treat individuals with sexual disorders. However, in practice, gay and lesbian ads appeared in many popular publications.

On February 12, the Ombudsman's office received a complaint from a pair of gay men in Volynska Oblast who alleged that they were harassed by local police. The case remained open at year's end. On September 8, a gay man also died in suspicious circumstances in Kryvyy Rih while in police custody (see Section 1.a.).

Persons living with HIV/AIDS faced discrimination in the workplace, job loss without legal recourse, harassment by law enforcement, prosecutorial, and judicial authorities, and social isolation and stigmatization within their communities.

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41634.htm

Zimbabwe

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President Mugabe publicly denounced homosexuals, blaming them for "Africa's ills." Although there is no statutory law proscribing the activities of homosexuals, common law prevents gay men, and to a lesser extent, lesbians, from fully expressing their sexual orientation and in some cases, criminalizes the display of affection between men.

On August 4, a mob chased members of the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) from the GALZ stand at the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. A group of youths approached GALZ officials at the stand and threatened to beat them, after which the GALZ members fled.

The Government has a national HIV/AIDS policy that prohibits discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS, and the law aims to protect against discrimination of workers in the private sector and parastatals; however, societal discrimination against persons affected by HIV/AIDS remained a problem. Despite an active information campaign by international and local NGOs and the Government through its Ministry of Health and the National AIDS Council to destigmatize HIV/AIDS, ostracism and condemnation of those affected by HIV/AIDS continued.

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